Neither the American Library Association (ALA) nor the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) necessarily endorses the views expressed or the facts presented on these sites; furthermore, ALA and ALSC do not endorse any commercial products that may be advertised or available on these sites. For a list of ALSC recommended websites for children,

Neither the American Library Association (ALA) nor the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) necessarily endorses the views expressed or the facts presented on these sites; furthermore, ALA and ALSC do not endorse any commercial products that may be advertised or available on these sites. For a list of ALSC recommended websites for children,

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visit [http://www.ala.org/greatsites Great Website for Kids].

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visit [http://www.ala.org/greatsites Great Websites for Kids].

Return to [[ALSC_ChildTech_Wiki| ALSC ChildTech Wiki]] main page.

Return to [[ALSC_ChildTech_Wiki| ALSC ChildTech Wiki]] main page.

Latest revision as of 13:54, 4 April 2009

Live Homework Help

Tutor.comoffers a service called Live Homework Help to libraries and other educational institutions. The program connects students in grades 4 through 12 to trained tutors for an online chat session. Currently the basic subject offerings are math, science, English, and Social Studies. For high school students the subject offerings are expanded. The corporate website provides a list of all the libraries that currently subscribe to this service. The students that visit the library I work in use Live Homework Help on a regular basis. As staff we find it extremely helpful because we don't have to worry about becoming impromptu tutors.

Tired of sorting through CD after CD (or tape after tape) before and during storytime? Always worried that the CD you need might not be available when you need it? Then the Apple iPod might be the handy tech tool for you! In my library system (Montgomery County Public Libraries), we have begun using iPods as our source of music for storytimes. iPods were chosen for their ability to seamlessly download music with iTunes software. (Other music players might work for this purpose, but downloading music to them may or may not be quite as simple.)

The iPod itself comes in three variations, depending on how much you want to be able to store on it. The smallest is the Mini, followed by the Nano, and then regular iPod (which may have video capability). At MCPL, we opted for the iPod Nano, which holds about 3GB or ? songs. Once you’ve loaded the iPod/iTunes software (normally included with your iPod) on to your computer, you’re good to go.

The newest version of iTunes has made loading music onto the iPod much easier than in the past. Its basically as easy as click and drag. You can even create playlists to download to your iPod so that your music is set everytime you want to do a certain storytime. You can also sort songs within a playlist so that they’ll play in the order you want them to. No more wasting time during a program sorting through your CDs to play that next song!

Alas, you should be aware that the iPod does have its downsides. The click wheel, which you use to move around in the iPod via the on-screen menus, is very sensitive and can be hard to maneuver at times. Mine has been known to give me fits when I’m trying to click through to my playlist so that it’s set for storytime. Once your list is up you’re all set. Just remember to click the pause button after each song if you don’t intend to play more than one in a row. Also, iPod is very proprietary so not all audio file types will play on it. (I found this out when trying to use a midi file of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.") Mp3, Wav, and AAC (Apple's own audio files) work on iPod.

In order to get the most out of your iPod during a program, a speaker system is a must. (Otherwise no one but you will hear the music. You can find small, light, and portable speakers for you iPod at any electronics superstore for $200 or less. I recommend one that comes with a remote control so you can start and stop your music no matter where you are in the room. (This would be especially handy if you like to move around a lot during your storytimes.) Our model is a Logitech mm50

The speaker system that we use is also not without problems. Some of the songs on our iPod don’t play as loudly as others so I find myself turning the volume up and down accordingly. At least twice, it never got loud enough. The remote control has been a hassle too. I don’t know if ours just has a short battery life or what, but it only seems to work when it wants to. We actually piloted a different model which I think worked much better, however it wasn’t as affordable as what we ended up with.

Another tidbit to think about is that, obviously more and more young people are also making use of iPods and similar technologies. While the iPod is handy for music and video, other digital audio players would probably be more useful for audio e-books. Atleast in my library system, the two vendors we use for audio e-books are not compatible with iPod at the moment.

http://wwwl.meebo.com/index-en.html - This free service allows kids to log into all of the popular instant messaging clients (AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk, etc.) from one screen. It is totally web-based and does not require any downloads so it is ideal for public access computers or library computers that restrict downloading.

Please Note:
Neither the American Library Association (ALA) nor the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) necessarily endorses the views expressed or the facts presented on these sites; furthermore, ALA and ALSC do not endorse any commercial products that may be advertised or available on these sites. For a list of ALSC recommended websites for children,
visit Great Websites for Kids.